Metallica frontman James Hetfield spoke in an interview by Little Punk People and revealed his favorite thrash metal bands outside the Big 4. He said:

“Oh, my God! There’s tons of them. Well, Exodus for sure. We grew up with those guys in the [San Francisco] Bay Area. Oh, and we stole their guitar player; that too. [Laughs] But, yeah, I think they’re great.

Testament… A lot of bands in the Bay Area, a lot of thrash stuff. I just think even before that… Yeah, there’s thrash… Punk rock was kind of the beginning of it for me.

Motörhead — kind of thrashy but rock and roll. But I loved G.B.H., or still do, and I love Discharge a lot. That’s kind of really cool thrash music to me.”